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Clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle communities have displaced tens of thousands of civilians in Jonglei State and led United Nations agencies to launch a major humanitarian response. The violence displaced around 60,000 people between 23 December and 10 January. The government of South Sudan and the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) are trying to reach remote areas of the bush where many have fled.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that it needed funding to enable it to reach remote affected areas by air. UNMISS peacekeepers have been deployed to support the efforts of government forces, but UN Security Council (UNSC) members were also concerned that the mission's shortage of operational helicopters was limiting its ability to carry out its mandate. While calling on the warring communities to engage in reconciliation, the UNSC welcomed the efforts of the South Sudanese government to protect civilians and mediate a solution to the crisis.

In the last seven months of 2011 over 1,000 people died in cattle raids and counter raids between the groups, and some 63,000 people were displaced, according to reports by local authorities and assessment teams.

The UN and other agencies are also responding to internal displacements in Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei State, and to the needs of tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees in South Sudan who have fled fighting north of the border since South Sudan declared independence. They have continued to assist around 110,000 people displaced within South Sudan during the crisis which broke out in Abyei in May.

The UN has warned that at least a million people are expected to be unable to meet their food needs in 2012, an increase of more than 100,000 from 2011, and that the situation of more than 3.6 million South Sudanese may worsen due to high food prices, continued displacements and insecurity.